The Pythagorean theorem states that in a right triangle, the length of the hypotenusesquared is equal to the sum of the square of the lengths of the other two sides, and was a very important equation in the study of geometry. It was often represented by the following equation:

$ a^2+b^2=c^2 $

where a and b are each the legs of the triangle and c is the hypotenuse.